one girl's life in East London

My Top 5 Date Spots in Shoreditch

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you’ve probably come across a couple of my Date Night posts (that don’t always take place at night, but Date Day sounds weird). I love getting out and about in my neighbourhood and thought I’d take some time to compile a little list of some of my favourite spots and places my boyfriend (aka The Bulgarian) and I enjoy going to together.

Red Dog Saloon is infamous around Hoxton, and for good reason. Its portions are huge and the flavour even bigger. The Bulgarian loves the ribs and pulled pork, and even for a veggie like me, I always leave happy after their bean burger – not such a common achievement, believe me.

Red Dog is the type of place that we wouldn’t make a habit of visiting too often – it can be slightly on the more expensive side for a casual dinner, and it always leaves us feeling way too stuffed… although maybe that’s our fault!

Story time. Back when the Bulgarian and I were in the very early days of our relationship, we were still in university. Our campus was in the middle of Angel, so there were plenty of places around to get coffee, but one that we particularly liked and kept going back to was Goswell Road Coffee, a sister branch of Brick Lane Coffee. We used to go get coffee together between lectures, sneaking out before any of our friends noticed there was something between us. I spent so many hours sitting in that place, chatting to him, getting to know him and completely falling for him.

As we got closer, he started making a habit of walking me home from university every day, and sometimes, we’d pop into Brick Lane Coffee for one more chat over chais before we said our goodbyes. We still go occasionally, but Brick Lane Coffee and its ilk will always remind me of those early days.

How do I describe Bar Prague… to me, it seems like the most romantic dive bar you could go to. It’s got low lighting, candles on every table, mismatched furniture, comfy couches, interesting artwork for sale on the walls, a hefty absinthe menu taped around a bottle and friendly bar staff. It’s the type of place that you could sit and chat for hours and not even notice the time go by.

I remember one night spent in here with The Bulgarian, nursing our drinks and chatting about everything. It was only when I stood up to leave that I realised how late it had gotten.

I love the farm! If you know me in real life, there’s a very high chance that I have probably brought you to the farm. In fact, it was the very first blog post I published on Shoreditch Girl!

This place just makes me happy. It’s great to wander around with a date, but it’s great with friends and family too. The animals are adorable, the people who run it are lovely and its just such a beautiful, happy, peaceful little spot in the middle of the city.

There’s a pygmy goat that lives on the farm, I have no idea what s/he is called, so I’ve dubbed him/her Tiny Goat. If you go, make sure to give Tiny Goat a pat for me please.

Last, but definitely not least, is Kinkao, a Thai restaurant on Brick Lane and easily one of my favourite restaurants in London. I have lost count of the amount of times I have eaten here, and I can honestly say, not once have I ever had a bad meal.

The Thai Green Curry is to die for, and everything else is wonderful too. The waitstaff are incredibly attentive, without being annoying, and friendly.

It was hard to find a good photo of Kinkao, nothing online seems to do it justice, and indeed, I walked by it many a time before giving it a go just by chance one night. Each table and chair is made from an intricately carved wood, and if you look closely, you’ll see each one is slightly different – this isn’t some factory line Ikea job.

If you only go to one place off this list, please make it Kinkao. You’ll thank me for it!